Students waiting for the bell Wednesday morning at Holly Pond High School / Heather Mann

HOLLY POND - Students headed back to school all across Cullman County Wednesday morning. Most students usually share the same sentiments, unhappy about having to get back to work but also pleased to be spending time with friends again. But what about the teachers? To find out, The Tribune traveled to Holly Pond High School.

While the students mingled among their friends and sorted out their classes, we talked to some of the staff and asked them how they feel about the upcoming year and what they have planned for the kids.

Teresa Thompson, English teacher: "I get to teach regular 12th grade English again, so I'm really looking forward to getting back into ‘Beowulf’ to begin with, those sort of things. We'll get to do maybe a little project with ‘The Canterbury Tales’ and some of those things, so that'll be nice."

Evan Curtis, new band director/ACCESS facilitator: "I'm very excited about this. This is my first year teaching, so I'm really excited to get to work with all the kids. Everybody's been very nice so far, and all the kids are great, so I'm excited to get to work with them. The band's been going great, too. We've learned the music to three of our songs and the drill to about one and a half already."

Amelia Burke, career prep/fashion/FACS teacher: "Just back to the grindstone, nothing much. I am going to try this thing I found on Pinterest where you make a dress out of newspaper because it's basically like a free supply, you don't have to buy fabric. We're also going to work on some recycling projects to give new purpose to things like plastic bottles and other stuff people usually throw out.”

Chelsie Alldredge, new environmental science/chemistry/physics teacher: "I feel excited. Anxious. We're doing a lot more mentoring with our students this year, and I'm really looking forward to being able to connect with the students and just make learning fun. I actually graduated from Holly Pond." On how she felt about the school year as a parent rather than a teacher, "I have a kindergartener and a first-grader, and I'm very excited, very optimistic. I'm looking forward to a good year."

Kim Butler, principal: "I'm excited about this year. It will be a little different - we lost some great kids all the way around, athletics and academics, lots of scholarships - so this junior class is gonna have a challenge to live up to those scholarships, and we're gonna push them. It's gonna be a great year and I'm excited. Gonna be starting year number 30 for me."